1781, BATH, ENGLAND: German-born astronomer William Herschel becomes the first modern scientist to discover a new planet within our solar system. He is not taken seriously at first. After all, the three “new planets” he had previously “discovered” turned out to be the sun, a fly on the lens of his telescope, and Earth, respectively. But this time he got it right: Uranus is a planet, and since our last writing, it has been admitted to THE CLUB OF PLANETS. (a)
(a). Please see page 147 of The Areas of My Expertise under the heading “The Club of Debated Planets.” — MARCH 13